GLYNDWR

district, Clwyd county, northeastern Wales. Created in 1974 and named for the famous Welsh warrior Owain Glyndwr (Owen Glendower), the district includes mountain ranges, deep valleys, and open countryside. It is bordered by the districts of Rhuddlan and Delyn to the north; Alyn and Deeside, Wrexham Manor, and the English districts of Norwich and North Shropshire to the east; Montgomeryshire to the south; and Merionnydd and Colwyn to the west. Denbigh castle, located in northern Glyndwr, was a frontier post in Norman times, guarding the approach to the Hiraethog Hills and the mountainous region of Snowdonia. The castle in the neighbouring town of Ruthin can also be traced back to the Norman Conquest (1066), and Chirk Castle, located in the extreme south of Glyndwr, was erected between 1282 and 1310. Glyndyfrdwry, a small village outside Corwen, was the home of the hero Glendower, who in the early 1400s was the last Welshman to actively challenge the supremacy of the English in Wales. Tourism is the main industry in the district. Llangollen, nestled between the Berwyn Mountains on one side and the Ruabon and Llantysilio mountains on the other, is world famous for the annual International Musical Eisteddfod (festival), begun in 1947. The town has leather-manufacturing and wool-milling industries. Ruthin is the administrative seat of the district; its castle has been converted into a luxury hotel. Denbigh has some light industry, and Corwen is mostly an agricultural market town. A highway, extending through Llangollen, traverses Glyndwr district from east to west. Area 373 square miles (967 square km). Pop. (1991 prelim.) 41,500.